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Tag Archives: W.B. Yeats
“Is there any virtue, for literature, for poetry, in the simple continuity of a tradition? I believe there is not.” — Thomas Kinsella
The Dolmen Press, operated out of Dublin, was founded in 1951 by Liam Miller, and played a crucial part in the development of Irish poetry in the mid-20th century. It was a strictly nationalist operation; before The Dolmen Press, poets … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Austin Clarke, Ezra Pound, Ireland, Irish poetry, John Montague, Michael Schmidt, poetry, Seamus Heaney, Thomas Kinsella, W.B. Yeats
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Rejoyce. It’s Bloomsday.
Some men send flowers to commemorate an anniversary. James Joyce wrote Ulysses. Overachiever. On June 15, 1904, young James Joyce sent a note to Nora Barnacle, who was a waitress at Finn’s Hotel. Barnacle (what an apt name) was a … Continue reading
Posted in Books, James Joyce, On This Day, writers
Tagged Bloomsday, E.M. Forster, Edna O'Brien, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, Ford Madox Ford, Frank McCourt, George Bernard Shaw, Gertrude Stein, Henry Miller, Ireland, John Banville, Katherine Mansfield, Stefan Zweig, Sylvia Beach, T.S. Eliot, Ulysses, Vladimir Nabokov, W.B. Yeats, William Carlos Williams
54 Comments
“My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity.” — WWI poet Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Owen, one of the best “war poets” of World War I, was born on this day in 1893. He was killed in battle in 1918, just seven days before the Armistice. He was 25 years old. His poetry was … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Dylan Thomas, England, Harold Bloom, poetry, T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats, war, WWI
33 Comments
“Fear adjective; they bleed nouns. Hate the passive.” — poet Basil Bunting
It’s his birthday today. By all accounts, including his own, Basil Bunting was some kind of genius prodigy. Along with everything else, he was also Iran correspondent for the London Times for a bit, and was very interested in Persia … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Basil Bunting, England, Ezra Pound, Iran, Michael Schmidt, poetry, W.B. Yeats
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Recommended: Biographies
For starters: My recommended Fiction books My recommended Non-Fiction books BIOGRAPHIES: American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, by Joseph Ellis I’ve written a lot about Joseph Ellis’ work here. While I love David McCullough’s work so much, Ellis is … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books, Directors, Founding Fathers, James Joyce, Theatre, writers
Tagged A. Scott Berg, Abigail Adams, Alexander Hamilton, American Sphinx, Benjamin Franklin, Biography, Bruce Springsteen, Charles Lindbergh, Charlotte Bronte, David McCullough, Dean Martin, Edie Sedgwick, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Ellen Terry, Elvis Presley, Emily Bronte, George Washington, Henry Irving, His Excellency, Howard Hawks, Howard Hughes, James Dean, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Adams, John Wayne, Joseph Cornell, Joseph Ellis, Marlon Brando, Mitford sisters, Montgomery Clift, Nick Tosches, Nureyev, Orson Welles, Oscar Wilde, Patricia Bosworth, Patricia Highsmith, Richard Ellmann, Ron Chernow, Sam Cooke, Simon Callow, Tennessee Williams, Thomas Jefferson, Truman Capote, W.B. Yeats, Zelda Fitzgerald
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“That is no country for old men.” Happy Birthday, W.B. Yeats
My parents had Clancy Brothers at Carnegie Hall on vinyl, and we listened to it constantly. It was the background of my childhood. I memorized “O’Driscoll Host of the Air” (having no idea it was by William Butler Yeats) probably … Continue reading
The Books: Finders Keepers: Selected Prose 1971-2001: ‘Yeats as an Example?,’ by Seamus Heaney
On the essays shelf (yes, there are still more books to excerpt in my vast library. I can’t seem to stop this excerpts-from-my-library project. I started it in 2006!) NEXT BOOK: Seamus Heaney’s Finders Keepers: Selected Prose 1971-2001. The Irish … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged essays, Finders Keepers, Ireland, Irish poetry, poetry, Seamus Heaney, W.B. Yeats
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Happy Birthday, Seán O’Casey
Irish playwright Seán O’Casey was born on this day, in 1880. He was the first major Irish playwright to deal with slum life and the reality of the Dublin poor. There is a wonderful anecdote about O’Casey from his colleague … Continue reading
Happy Birthday to the “Pilgrim Soul”, Maud Gonne
Maud Gonne, Irish revolutionary, feminist, radical, and lifelong poetic muse of William Butler Yeats, was born on this day in history in 1865. She married John MacBride (after a couple of notorious affairs and illegitimate children). John MacBride was an … Continue reading